Chapter 889

Those who were going to leave left. Those who were going to stay stayed.

So Gyo watched Jin Taekyung until he vanished in the distance, turning over the faint words the wind had carried to her moments ago.

He’s still a kid, you crazy bastards.

She wondered what expression Jin Taekyung had worn then, and how much of the anger and bitterness in his departing figure had been genuine.

There was no way for her to know.

You can plumb ten fathoms of water, but never one fathom of a person’s heart.

As So Gyo repeated the saying to herself, Baek Yeon spoke.

“How much of this did you intend?”

“Intend?”

“Did you intend for Jin Taekyung to come here?”

So Gyo shook her head slightly.

“Not particularly. What happened just now was a coincidence.”

“A coincidence. Then why did you ask His Majesty to let him move about freely?”

“I needed to watch him more closely. You already know some of the reasons I’ve been staying in the imperial palace, don’t you?”

“Could it be…?”

Baek Yeon’s eyes widened. So Gyo answered in an even voice.

“I can’t be certain yet…but I think he’s the one. The person I’ve been looking for. The person that person foretold.”

The beautiful woman in her thirties spoke to the graying veteran without the slightest formality, but Baek Yeon paid it no mind.

The woman calling herself So Gyo had the standing and the strength to speak that way. Besides, her answer was more astonishing than he’d expected.

“So that’s why you had him stay in the imperial palace?”

“I had to see for myself whether the rumors about the Blazing Flame Divine Dragon, Jin Taekyung, were true. Whether he really was the one that person spoke of. And…”

So Gyo turned her head. Her gaze swept over the place where someone had been moments ago, though that person was already gone. For an instant, her eyes gleamed sharply.

“What kind of person he is.”

The chance encounter had turned out well. Perhaps not for Jin Taekyung, who had left in anger, but So Gyo had seen enough to sort out her thoughts and gain a measure of certainty.

The Huashan Divine Dragon, Cheongpung. The Blazing Flame Divine Dragon, Jin Taekyung.

She placed the names of the two rising martial artists she’d been watching on the scales in her mind. Unlike when she’d first learned of them, the scales now tipped toward one.

The Blazing Flame Divine Dragon, Jin Taekyung.

As she’d told Baek Yeon, it was too soon to be certain. But given Jin Taekyung’s past actions and what she’d seen and sensed herself, there was a good chance he was the person she sought.

That must be why that person entrusted this task to me.

So Gyo slowly crossed the flower garden.

Their brief clash had left it looking as though a storm had swept through. At its center, something that had been hidden beneath the flowers and grass poked up through the dirt.

“It’s been a long time.”

How deep had it been buried? How long had it lain there?

So Gyo greeted the familiar object as if speaking to herself, then reached out.

Whoooom—thunk!

An enormous, unseen surge of qi shook the air. Two objects buried deep in the ground shot up into So Gyo’s hands.

They were identical in length and width, as if measured with a ruler. Each curved gently toward its tip, much like a saber.

So Gyo hung one at each hip, then spoke to Baek Yeon, who was watching her.

“It’ll be a fierce battle. Maybe fiercer than the one over a decade ago.”

Baek Yeon nodded.

“I’m prepared.”

“Enough to stake your life on it?”

“Do you know something?”

His expression remained calm as he went on.

“I’ve always staked my life on getting what I wanted. That’s how I made it this far.”

“I hope you do the same this time.”

“I must. I will.”

Baek Yeon’s eyes grew as grave as his voice.

“May I ask you one thing?”

So Gyo nodded.

“Anything, if it’s something I can answer.”

“Why are you leaving the Blazing Flame Divine Dragon, Jin Taekyung, alone?”

“Why?”

“That’s right.”

“You must have guessed already.”

“Of course I have. But before we wipe them all out in one place, we should go after Jin Taekyung right now—”

“Impossible.”

So Gyo cut him off firmly.

“There’s still more I need to confirm. Until then, it’s better to let things proceed as they are.”

“What if he becomes an obstacle to the great undertaking?”

“An obstacle? How?”

“As you know, Jin Taekyung’s master is the Fire King, Jeok Cheongang. And, as it happens, he vanished without a trace after reaching the Imperial Capital. The other Murim martial artists following Jin Taekyung won’t make much difference, but…if they draw the Fire King in as well, things could become complicated.”

Baek Yeon was genuinely worried.

The Fire King, Jeok Cheongang.

The government and Murim might be meant to stay out of each other’s affairs, but after more than a hundred years, there was no one in the land who hadn’t heard of him.

And Baek Yeon, who had led the Embroidered Uniform Guard since the late Emperor’s reign, knew better than most which of the countless rumors about the Fire King were true.

A hero born of the Great Faction War. A demon awakened by the Demonic Cult.

A man whose martial prowess towered above even those powerful enough to be called kings.

He could not reach someone born in a human body and called a god, but he stood shoulder to shoulder with the Three Stars. If he took the other side, they would have to be prepared for tremendous losses.

Even with So Gyo, Baek Yeon himself, the Emperor, and several other Supreme Peak masters on their side.

“Their forces are already formidable. And that’s only what we’ve managed to learn so far. If the Fire King joins them after Jin Taekyung…”

“The Fire King? That wouldn’t be bad.”

For a moment, Baek Yeon doubted his ears.

Then So Gyo continued, a faint smile on her lips, and he realized she meant it.

“No. That might be even better.”

“……!”

Leaving Baek Yeon frozen like a statue, unable to understand her at all, So Gyo turned away with a quiet laugh.

The words she hadn’t told him drifted through her mind.

Wait. You’ll know soon enough.

Baek Yeon thought he knew everything, but he was wrong.

The story So Gyo had kept from him was something only she and the Emperor knew. Secrets were better off unknown.

At least until the banquet both allies and enemies were so eagerly awaiting.

“Only three days left until then.”

So Gyo looked up at the sky, now dark, and murmured. Cold raindrops began to fall, as if confirming her sense that the calm before the storm was already upon them.

Shaaah.

Heavy rain hammered everything around us.

It swallowed even the shouts of palace attendants running here and there in woven bamboo hats and rain cloaks.

I’d spent a good while in Murim, but I’d never seen a downpour like this. The unexpected rain and thunder were more than enough to obscure the watchers’ view.

“You’re really going?”

Hyuk Mujin’s face was tense.

“I have to.”

“What if they catch you…?”

“They won’t. Not in this situation. You were there and heard it too, so you know.”

“I know. I know it’s urgent. But still…”

“It’ll be all right if it’s Young Master Jin.”

Hong Jin spoke up, his voice subdued.

“Even if they spot him, there’s a good chance they’ll pretend they didn’t.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“If what Young Master Jin told us is true, they want to wipe us all out at once. They intend to uproot us in one fell swoop…and that leaves us no choice.”

I nodded silently.

Would So Gyo and Baek Yeon have let me go without thinking it through?

Even knowing full well I’d tell their enemies what had happened?

No way.

This was both a warning and a declaration: don’t try to avoid the all-or-nothing battle ahead. And we couldn’t refuse.

With Prince Shangshan in their grasp, there’s no way out of it, no matter what we do.

Our enemies had engineered this situation because they were confident they’d win. But however thoroughly they’d prepared, whatever traps they’d set, we couldn’t back down.

We have to fight. Right now, before we worry about winning or losing, we have to make a decision.

The stage was set. So were the actors.

Our enemies had built the stage intending to star in the show. But sometimes a supporting actor defies everyone’s expectations and outshines the lead.

That was my job.

To change who took center stage—and how this story ended.

Fortunately, there was one important cameo in the imperial palace that our enemies didn’t know about.

Old Master.

I stared out the window at the sheets of rain.

The downpour obscured my view, and the sky was already pitch-black. Below the pavilion, members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard stood watch in shifts.

There were about twenty of them, every one a Peak master.

But even Supreme Peak masters couldn’t predict a sudden lightning strike.

Flash! Kaboom!

Now.

At the instant white light flashed and a thunderous boom rang out, I pushed off the railing and sprang into the air.

Whoosh!

The Ghost Illusory Slaughter Step, a signature martial art created by the greatest assassin of all time, unfolded beneath my feet.

I hadn’t been taught it formally; I’d only worked a little of it into my movements. But that was enough to slip past the watchers in the brief confusion.

Tap. Swish!

I landed on the roof of a pavilion whose name I didn’t know, one said to house the palace attendants, and shot forward—quietly but swiftly.

The layout of the imperial palace was already etched deep in my mind. I didn’t hesitate.

From here, along the east-west axis.

The grounds were vast, with pavilions scattered across them.

My black clothes blended into the darkness, and the guards posted throughout the grounds never caught sight of me.

“Damn, it’s really coming down.”

“The grand banquet’s right around the corner, and now the weather’s like this…”

The Imperial Guards grumbled as they looked up at the sky from beneath the eaves. They had no idea an uninvited guest had just passed two steps behind them and entered the Outer Palace.

But not everything went smoothly.

“What are you doing here?”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

“If I remember the regulations correctly, your assigned post isn’t beneath the eaves.”

The Imperial Guards weren’t the only ones startled by that voice, hard as rock. I was about to move on when I saw the familiar face that had suddenly appeared and swallowed a groan.

Fuck, what’s that bastard doing here?

Jeong Hogun.

A high-ranking Thousand Captain in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he was walking toward the Imperial Guards.

And at the same time, he was heading toward me, concealed not far away in the darkness.